Programming is too hard!

A "journalist" decides he's going to write the next best iPhone app, so he sits down to learn Objective-C with no experience other than a little hacky javascript.

Shocker, it's too hard for him! So he goes on to accuse us programmers of being intentionally obtuse because we don't want to devaule our knowledge, and then suggests that programming should be more like going to the store to buy tomatoes.

Re: Programming is too hard!

Posted 14 June 2011 - 09:00 AM

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His cooking analogy makes sense if you say it fast. But if you really think about it, having all the ingredients of a meal and the recipe still does not make you a chef. Sure, you can throw together a simple pasta dish or maybe some Hamburger Helper, but more complex dishes with all fresh ingredients (no frozen, canned, packaged BS) takes a deeper understanding of cooking and, in some cases, chemistry. His article is obviously written out of frustration. He apparently didn't take time to cool down before spewing his irritation onto a page. His ire should be directed at Apple rather than engineers. Apple is the one who chose C as THE iPhone language. Maybe if Apple allowed something simpler like VB, or even Java he could handle it.

Re: Programming is too hard!

It's not even just C, it's Objective-C, a relatively obscure mashup between smalltalk and C, that's not used anywhere outside the apple platform. But it's their thing, so whatever.

It makes sense, in a way. If you could use a cross-platform language like Java, it would be significantly easier to port applications to other platforms. Choosing to be an iPhone developer goes a long way towards locking you into a brand. For instance, you can't develop on anything other than a Mac (since you have to use XCode, and you have to have Mac OS X for that, and you have to be on Mac hardware to legitimately run OS X). And the programs you create are in a language that nobody else uses for anything. So porting is significantly more like re-writing than modifying.

Re: Programming is too hard!

Posted 14 June 2011 - 09:19 AM

The other day I got java up and running on my iPhone . The only thing that sucks, is that it's stuck to the console but I think it's possible to at least make a console app. I have terminal and all I have to do is copy the java file onto my iPhone or type it up on there (pain in the ass), then go into terminal and compile with something called jikes. It's like javac except for the iPhone.

If anybody wanted I could post a tutorial. It's not really coding but pretty awesome.

Re: Programming is too hard!

Posted 14 June 2011 - 09:42 AM

So because he - for whatever reason - doesn't have the right attributes to cut it as a programmer, the entire industry should just bend-over backwards and completely change itself to suit a single person?! him!

I'm utterly useless at football however I don't expect the entire premiership league to kowtow to me just for the sake of placating me...

Re: Programming is too hard!

Posted 14 June 2011 - 09:43 AM

It is an interesting article and even though he is learning objective c for his iphone, mac, etc he should look into a language that is still strongly typed and stay away from a server language that is scripting and try something more along the lines of Java. If he was wanting to get into app development he could always just use Java on the droids DVM.

Re: Programming is too hard!

Posted 14 June 2011 - 10:13 AM

Wow... The notion of: "learning C shouldn’t have to be a bottom up affair. I want to start with the big ideas and make my way down, and I suspect I am not alone." is somewhat absurd, thats like saying I want to build a house but can't be bothered to learn how to make bricks, build the house' frame out of wood etc... so I want builders to make it so that I can unpack a ready-made house and call it my own... Most should start with learning the basics and tbh if he expects to learn something complex and then work down to the basics, then gl to him...
Lets all learn to run before we can walk.